GRATITUDE + CONSCIOUS LIVING Page 24 of 26

Kundalini yoga to be offered at Do What You Love retreat

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Remember this gorgeous place? Imagine waking up early to this view, birds singing, breathing fresh air, morning sun on your face. And then indulging in an hour of kundalini yoga before a delicious breakfast, prepared on site by a professional chef, and then off to art class?  That is how the days will begin at the Do What You Love retreat.  Morning yoga will be offered as an optional activity for anyone on the retreat. What a way to start the day…

Kundalini yoga to be offered at Do What You Love retreat venue photo credit Natual Retreats

(Image: Natural Retreats)

More about the sessions:

The Kundalini yoga sessions (as taught by Yogi Bhajan) will be led by Devi Kirin Kaur, a level 1 and 2 qualified teacher (trained with Amrit Nam Sarovar over the course of three years).  She teaches Kundalini yoga classes and workshops in East Sussex and Gloucestershire, and is a member of (and fully insured by) KYTA.  Four early morning classes will be offered (6.45-7.45am), suitable for all levels. Please note these will be outside, and therefore weather dependent.

In Devi Kirin Kaur’s words… “Over the course of the retreat there is an opportunity to dive deep into the centre of being.  Together we will unleash potential and connect to the true source of wisdom and truth, letting go of limitations to allow the spirit to soar. Kundalini yoga is the yoga of awareness. We will be working with the energy potential, removing any blocks within the body that create limitation. Through the sacred technology of Kundalini yoga, we will be working to move energy through the chakras. Opening profound joy through the heart, as well as working on creativity, communication and intuition through breath (pranayam), postures (asanas), meditation, chanting and relaxation.

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Testimonials from Devi Kirin Kaur’s students:

“It is like no Yoga I’ve tried before and was a totally new concept to me. The environment (was) friendly and totally relaxing. Devi Kirin is kind, patient, informative and a pleasure to spend time with. The sessions are spiritually, mentally and physically uplifting!” – Fiona Muir

“Devi Kirin Kaur’s style of teaching is gentle but firm, supportive, encouraging, nurturing yet challenging us to stretch to new horizons.”  – Sara Lawlor

“I find Devi Kirin Kaur to be an intuitive teacher, combining her extensive knowledge of Kundalini Yoga with a sympathetic teaching style.  She creates a great learning space and takes care that her students are supported in their journey through Kundalini Yoga.” – Jenifer Corker

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Find out more about the Do What You Love retreat here.

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The mystery of the toilet roll and the Nebraskan newspaper

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Do you remember I told you about the Campaign for Real Mail?

It’s where my brothers and I send each other silly things in the post, no envelopes allowed, just for fun.

Well it looks like someone else randomly decided to join in…

I received this toilet roll in the post(!)

It came from my little brother, but all he posted was this little piece of cardboard.

The mystery of the toilet roll and the Nebraskan newspaper mail1

However when it arrived, it had a newspaper rolled up inside it.

And not just any old newspaper.

‘The Arnold Sentinel’ serving Custer County, Arnold, Nebraska, USA.

It might make sense if I lived in Nebraska… but I live in England!

We have absolutely no idea how it got inside the toilet roll.

I wonder if someone at the Post Office had a little chuckle to themselves?

I love it that someone else had some fun with this too.

The mystery of the toilet roll and the Nebraskan newspaper paper

I got to read a lovely story about deer in a Nebraskan snowstorm, the local Arnold Public School receiving an art grant, and that the ‘Good News Club’ will resume meetings soon.

I like the sound of the ‘Good News Club’.

Might be worth a trip to Nebraska…

 

Share your story on Do What You Love

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Are you doing what you love?

Whether the answer (right now) is yes or no, we all have a story to tell.

In celebration of the Do What You Love e-course launch, I am putting out a call for guest posts for this blog.  It attracts four-figure weekly traffic, and I want to open up that platform to share your stories with the world.

I am starting a new series shortly, capturing the essence of what it means to do what you love, warts and all, and I’d love it if you would be part of that.

What’s your story? Are you doing what you love?  If so, what changes or sacrifices have you had to make along the way to get there?

If you aren’t (yet) doing what you love but want to, what obstacles are standing in your way, and how are you tackling them?

Please contact me if you are interested in having your story highlighted, and sending more readers to your part of the blog world.

You never know, your story may end up in the book proposal I am secretly working on…

(PS If you have no idea what you love, it might be an idea to sign up for the Do What You Love e-course!)

 

 

Making time for coffee and cake

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coffee hipsta print

(Taken at Monmouth Coffee, Covent Garden, with hipstamatic on my new ipod touch)

One of the best things about not working a ‘normal 9-5 job’ is being able to sit and discuss life and art with friends over coffee and apple tarts*.  The funny thing is, sometimes it is when you switch off from your work that you get the most inspiration for it.

Do you find that a-ha moments turn up in the strangest places?

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* Today’s lovely friend of choice was illustrator Tanja Wilmot

It’s Christmas Eve!

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Christmas is nearly upon us, when anticipation and preparation gives way to celebration!  I love Christmas Eve – there is snow on the ground and magic in the air.  I am spending it at my parents’ house, with young nephew and niece as the perfect little Christmas helpers.  Today will go something like this…

– wrapping up warm to go last minute shopping for new christmas cake decorations (the old santa has last year’s icing stuck on his boot, and the collection of little green fir trees we have used since I was a child has dwindled to just two trees – we need a few more tree friends to make a snowy forest)

– cake decorating with the help of some little people

– watching ‘Miracle on 34th Street’

– taking my parents’ dog for a walk in the frosty park

– posting the neighbours’ christmas cards

– gathering round a huge tree for a candlelit children’s carol service

– cooking up hot mince pies and mulled wine

– putting out some sherry for Father Christmas and a carrot for Rudolph

– reading ‘The Night Before Christmas’ to the little ones before they fall asleep ‘with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads’

– putting out all the presents under our tree

– trying to get to sleep, which is as hard now as it was when I was five…

Merry Christmas to you all!

And then there was snow…

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We haven’t had snow like this in England in November as long as I can remember. Down to minus 20 in some places and eight inches of snow expected in the next 24 hours. 

I know it is nothing like you get in other parts of the world, but somehow snow seems to always take us by surprise here. On the news they keep talking about the travel chaos everywhere, but I am secretly happy about the quiet magic that falls over the countryside when snow comes. 

We shuffled downstairs early this morning, before the rest of the world woke up, and sat with steaming mugs of tea looking out over the whiteness.

snow view from studio

View from my studio early this morning

snow view from attic

View from my attic office skylight

back garden
Our little garden
snowy red bush

What’s the weather like where you are today?

Is it just me or is the year rushing past?

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I need to breathe. 

To take a moment to stop, and just be.

To listen and reflect a bit before leaping ahead.

There are some huge things happening in my life in the next few weeks, not least the culmination of a project I have been working on for over a year, the launch of my new creative business venture (more very shortly I promise!) and Christmas in our new home.

It is all incredibly exciting, but also stressful.  Scary even (except for the Christmas bit!)

I have a to-do list a mile long.

I cannot see the floor in my studio for the mess.

And I really don’t want December to come and go without taking time to reflect on the incredible year that will soon be coming to a close. 

So I’m going to stop, just for a while. 

To breathe a little. 

And maybe even drop my to-do list in the bin and see what happens…  I dare me…

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How about you? Has the year flown past for you too? How will you make sure you find time to look back over the past year before December has come and gone?

On friendship

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ginger friends
 

This week I was visited by a wonderful old friend.

She is exactly 12 years older than me which, 

being one full cycle of the Chinese horoscope,

is apparently very lucky

When I first moved to Tokyo,

a young stranger blinking in the bright lights of the big city,

she gave me a place to sleep, 

a fellow English girl in Japan

(Let’s not talk about the fact I had only known her a week,

and ended up staying in her spare room for four months.

I was nicknamed ‘the little squatter’..)

When I wanted to change jobs,

she gave me awesome career advice

over a bagel on a park bench

(and then introduced me to my next boss)

When I left the city for a round-the-world voyage

she let me leave all my junk at her place,

and lent me her beloved suitcase

When I returned from my adventures,

tanned and exhilarated but with nowhere to stay,

she opened a bottle of champagne,

threw me a party at the cutest little restaurant in town

and gave me her key (again!)

When she had her first baby girl,

she made me her godmother.

What a gift.

She has an amazing talent for making small things feel big and special

and is so generous with her energy and kindness.

I wish everyone had a friend like her.

Yesterday she came to visit.

We caught up, told stories and laughed until late.

My turn to pour the drinks and give her the spare bed.

I am not sure if she realises just how treasured she is.

Where would we be without friends?

Have you thought about yours lately, about why they are so special to you?